By: Jože Biščak
In mid‑October last year, Luka Mesec, the Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, said in an interview for the national television portal: “In Levica we will insist on this; it is one of the first things the next government must put on the table and hold a broad public debate about, so that we can agree on how to collect more taxes where we can.” If you also understood this as the minister announcing new taxes should the left win the upcoming elections and form a government again, you were not mistaken. Translated into plain language, his words mean: “Dear Slovenians, elect a left‑wing government again and we will tax you even more.”
He meant it completely seriously. He said it stone‑cold. Just as Robert Golob clearly announced four years ago that he would raise taxes and introduce new ones, because if people were left with too much money, they would spend it on nonsense, Mesec is now doing the same. Golob was elected (though I still cannot understand how people can elect someone who openly tells them he will empty their wallets), so God forbid voters fall for it again and once more elect the left. We can expect an even tighter tax grip, and then we will all be living (if we are not already) in state servitude.
Slovenian companies have experienced the biggest increase in tax burden under Golob’s government since independence. We got new taxes (for example, the long‑term care tax) that weigh on salaries; flat‑rate sole proprietors now pay five times more tax than under Janša’s government; a mandatory Christmas bonus was introduced; and the minimum wage is rising so fast that soon we will all be earning the minimum. And the list goes on. Of course the government needs new taxes or higher existing ones to satisfy the insatiable needs and fantasies of its ministers. This year’s budget is set at €17.7 billion in expenditure, while revenue will be only €15.6 billion, meaning a deficit of 2.9 percent of GDP, just under the limit allowed by the eurozone. In 2027 it will be even worse: expenditure will reach €18.1 billion. And since the left‑wing government knows these numbers will not add up (especially because of public‑sector wage increases), the announcement of new taxes is understandable. This government knows only the word “spending”; “saving” is not in its vocabulary.
The left claims everything is perfectly fine, that Slovenia’s debt is below the EU average, that employment is high, that the economy is in good shape. I do not know what parallel universe they live in, but stories from the ground are the exact opposite: many entrepreneurs are considering shutting down production or moving it to more tax‑friendly countries. Add to this the fact that Germany (Europe’s largest economy and Slovenia’s biggest trading partner) is on the brink of collapse due to hysterical woke policies; that high employment is largely the result of hiring in the public sector (which, as we know, does not pay taxes in the true sense of the word); and that hardworking, productive people are being criminalised simply because they are wealthy, and the outlook is bleak. Slovenia will not survive another such socialist government. That is as clear as day. And I hardly dare imagine in what condition a potential right‑wing government would inherit public finances. It will take a long time, especially through saving and reducing budget expenditure, for us to recover. We will need to use the “chainsaw” of Argentina’s president Javier Milei to get the economy on this side of the Alps breathing again, because this government is suffocating it.
Golob’s government has steered Slovenia back into socialism: they draw inspiration from Marx, dismantle the free market, and celebrate the all‑encompassing state. That is why nothing gets done; all their ideas collapse under the contradictions of socialism, and the Slovenian state is becoming ever more expensive. But the left does not care – it is not their money. The bill will be paid by net taxpayers. So at the elections, use your head. I can only hope it is not already too late.